#WPRD2023: Working to be happy and happy to be working

Image supplied. Marilize Jacobs shares how she brought together two passions, interior design and PR

Although interior decorating had always been an interest of mine, I studied BCom and then worked as a brand/marketing manager for various blue-chip companies.

In 2005 I opened my own PR consultancy, VocalCord. However, when I was expecting my twins I closed my company. I then studied interior decorating part-time, and in 2008 Pigs Can Fly Interiors.

Bringing her PR company back to life

Fast forward and while my interior business continued I had not resurrected my PR business. Then the Star Academy for early autism intervention for recovery for children aged two – 15 years old asked me to upgrade their Pretoria-based centre for Autism Month.

However during this month, their focus is on the sharing of stories and providing opportunities to increase understanding and acceptance of people with autism, fostering worldwide support, and they wanted someone to not only handle the decorating but also to internally promote the newly decorated centre. I put up my (shaky) hand and offered my PR skills.

The theme

I combined PR storytelling and interiors through an “Any(fin)thing is possible” fish theme throughout the centre.

The fish theme is strategically tied to the Star Academy’s slogan: The sky is the limit. A fin in old English was spelled finn, which probably comes from the Latin pinna, feather or wing. Therefore the connection between the sky (wing) and a fish (fin). Tools such as the How do you feel today? chart were also incorporated into the interior decorating.

Making the leap

If you are dreaming about switching to a career that’s drastically different from your current job, but the cost of switching seems too high, and the possibility of success seems too remote, the answer is not to continue plugging away at your current job, unfulfilled and slowly burning out. The answer is to do both.